SKIN-LESIONS IN DIABETES-MELLITUS - PREVALENCE AND CLINICAL CORRELATIONS

With the aim to assess the prevalence and the main clinical correlatio ns of skin lesions in diabetes mellitus, 457 diabetic subjects consecu tively attending an outpatient clinic underwent a dermatological exami nation. Neurovascular foot lesions were excluded. Thirty-five of 64 ID DM patients (54%) had skin alterations mainly consisting of vitiligo ( 9% of all patients), psoriasis (9%) and eczema (8%). The most frequent skin lesions observed in 240/393 NIDDM subjects (61%) were represente d by infections (20% of all patients) and diabetic dermopathy (12.5%), while other lesions were not common. NIDDM patients with skin infecti ons had a worse metabolic control, and those with diabetic dermopathy had a greater prevalence of neuropathy and large vessel disease than p atients without skin lesions. These data show that the prevalence of s kin diseases in a large, unselected diabetic population is higher than expected and indicate that, in most cases, a careful dermatological e xamination and a better metabolic control are needed in order to impro ve quality of life in these patients. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Irelan d Ltd. All rights reserved.